Key Points
- Police are seeking an order to block a protest in Sydney on the day of Cardinal George Pell's funeral.
- Police say "safety concerns" has necessitated the court order.
- The Sydney-based protest group planned their demonstration outside the funeral at St Mary's Cathedral.
This article contains references to child abuse.
NSW Police will be filing a court order within the next 12 hours to stop a planned LGBTIQ+ protest in Sydney on the day of Cardinal George Pell's funeral.
The former archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney following hip surgery and was given a traditional cardinal's funeral by the Vatican at St Peter's Basilica. He was 81.
A requiem mass will be held at St Mary's Cathedral on Thursday, to be led by Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher, before the cardinal is buried in a private service at St Mary's crypt.
Protest group Community Action for Rainbow Rights applied to demonstrate on Thursday near the church "to send a strong message: we reject George Pell and everything he stood for".
NSW Police said it received a Form 1 for a protest planned for Thursday. It said it had attempted unsuccessfully to negotiate with the organisers to make changes to address "safety concerns".
"However, despite attempted negotiations with organisers, safety concerns associated with their proposed assembly cannot be adequately mitigated without amendments to the proposal," NSW Police said in a statement.
"As such, the Commissioner will apply to the NSW Supreme Court to prohibit the assembly.
"The NSW Police Force recognises and supports the rights of individuals and groups to exercise their rights of free speech and peaceful assembly, however, the first priority is always the safety of the wider community."
The group said on Facebook that "we need everybody to come out and protest on Thursday".
"We can’t let the police get away with denying us our right to protest," it said.
Ribbons are tied onto the fence of St Mary’s Cathedral, in support of clergy sexual abuse survivors, ahead of Cardinal George Pell’s pontifical requiem mass in Sydney. Source: AAP / BIANCA DE MARCHI/AAPIMAGE
A reception has also been planned for Cardinal Pell on Wednesday morning, with two masses followed by a vigil where mourners unable to attend the funeral are invited to pay their respects.
Ahead of the funeral, Ballarat child abuse survivor Paul Auchettl travelled to Sydney to participate in a "silent event" using ribbons tied to the railings at St Mary's Cathedral to honour abuse victims who have died.
Comment has been sought from the Sydney Catholic Archbishop and St Mary's Cathedral.
Cardinal Pell was the Vatican's top finance minister before leaving Rome in 2017 to stand trial in Melbourne for child sexual abuse offences.
The following year, he was convicted of molesting two teenage choirboys in the sacristy of St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne while archbishop in 1996.
He maintained his innocence and in 2020 his convictions were quashed by the High Court.
With AAP.
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